Trump has been highly complimentary of the Russian premier during the early stages of the campaign, but has stood back from praising him in recent days after receiving criticism.

In August, Trump sacked his campaign manager Paul Manafort over his alleged links to the former pro-Moscow government in Ukraine.

Trump urges voters to cancel their ballots and switch to him

The Trump poll surge spelt further disaster for the Clinton camp when it revealed voters in key swing states Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Utah put the Republican candidate on a seven-point lead.

However, a small sample size here meant the margin for error was put at 5.5 points.

While Hillary leads among early voters, Trump took the opportunity yesterday to call on those who cast postal votes for her in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota to recall them.

In a 'poll of polls' by the Real Clear Politics website, Clinton leads by just 2.2 per cent -- down from 7 per cent last month.